New Mexico Hits Late Three To Beat George Mason

ST. THOMAS, Virgin Islands — — Coach Steve Alford isn't thrilled with the way that New Mexico is playing, but he can't argue with the results.

"We keep fighting," he said, "and when you fight and compete for 40 minutes, good things happen."

For the Lobos, good things happened in the final seconds against George Mason. Kendall Williams launched a long three-pointer with 11 seconds left, then stole the ball and made a great pass to Tony Snell, who hit a three from the wing with 1.7 seconds left to lift New Mexico to a dramatic 70-69 victory in the Paradise Jam semifinals.

The Lobos (3-0) were waiting the result of the UConn-Quinnipiac game to learn their opponent in the championship game Monday night.

"I saw a little bit of Connecticut on TV against Michigan State," Alford said. "Obviously, they've got two dynamite guards who can shoot and they look big inside. We're going to have to guard against the dribble-and-drive."

The Lobos have won close games against Davidson, Mercer and now George Mason. They have some size in the middle, especially 7-foot bruiser Alex Kirk, who had nine rebounds on Sunday. Snell scored 27 points for the Lobos against George Mason.

The bad news for New Mexico — they turned the ball over 18 times, and despite a size advantage, allowed 15 offensive rebounds.

UConn and New Mexico have played once before, in the 1999 NCAA Tournament, a 78-56 Huskies win.

Fresh Contributions

UConn is getting contributions from some unexpected sources, such as transfer graduate student R.J. Evans and junior Enosch Wolf, seldom used in his first two years.

The three freshmen are looking to join the party.

"I know I have had a rough start," said Phil Nolan, the 6-foot-9 forward from Milwaukee. "I'm still trying to figure some things out. The coaches have all been really supportive."

Omar Calhoun has remained in the starting lineup, but in three regular season games he has yet to find the shooting touch he showed in the exhibition games, in which he scored 44 points in two games. So far, he is averaging 6.5 points a game.

Nolan and Leon Tolksdorf did not play against Michigan State, but coach Kevin Ollie liked what he saw in practice and got them some action against Vermont. They played four minutes apiece against Wake Forest in the first round of the Paradise Jam on Friday night, with Nolan, in particular, looking shaky.

"Phil is going to be a great player for us, Leon is going to be a great player for us," Ollie said. "They're working hard in practice. That's all they can do. I need to gain trust in those guys, like I need to gain trust in every player. They need to keep working and believe in themselves, because I believe in them — and hopefully that comes off to them."

Calhoun, who didn't get a basket against Michigan State, scored 12 points against Vermont, 11 in the first half. He has shown flashes.

"I just want him to play with energy," Ollie said. "Defense, offense. I want him to play his brand of basketball, which is attack mode. And I won't let him accept anything less. I want him to get even better, and I will keep challenging him to do that. Against [MSU] he played against Brandon Dawson — that's a tough matchup for anybody. That's a man right there. I thought [Calhoun] handled it well, he came back to practice and got back to work. That's what I expect all our guys to do. That makes you grow, that gives you the muscle, when you go through things like that and are able to adapt to it. He's going to be fine."

No Garden Party

UConn did not try to pursue any reversal of its Big East Tournament ineligibility at the league's presidents' meeting in Chicago this week. Sensing that they would get nowhere, school officials chose to move on, school sources said. … Jim Calhoun on the possible moves of Maryland and Rutgers to the Big Ten: "I said months ago that [conference realignment] wasn't going to stop and it hasn't stopped," he said. Neither Calhoun nor any other UConn officials at this tournament had heard of any talks yet with the ACC, which would want a 14th team if it lost Maryland.